CHAPTER XX
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CHAPTER XX.
Gulf of Hauraki--Coromandel Harbour--Waiho, or the Thames --Waitemata Harbour--Auckland.
What is commonly called the Thames is a very large estuary or gulf on the eastern coast of New Zealand, containing several harbours, and many islands of various dimensions, and receiving the waters of two rivers of considerable size. I give to the whole the name of the Gulf of Hauraki, although the natives apply this name only to the eastern part, which receives the river Waiho, or Thames, and the river Piako. If the denomination of "Thames" is to be retained, instead of the well-sounding native name of Waiho, this part of the gulf would be most appropriately called the "Frith of the Thames."
The northern headland of the Gulf of Hauraki is formed by Point Rodney; the southern headland is Cape Colville; the distance between them being about forty miles. Cape Colville is the extreme headland of a long promontory, forming the eastern limit of the Frith of the Thames; throughout its length runs a chain of wooded hills, with a sharp crest and steep declivitous sides, which are washed
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GULF OF HAURAKI.
by the sea both on the eastern and western coast; but on the latter the rocky line is interrupted by an inlet, which forms Waihao or Coromandel harbour: at the back of the harbour the hills, rising into remarkable pinnacled and pyramidical summits, serve as excellent landmarks for the guidance of vessels entering it.
To the southward this hilly chain continues along the eastern coast: at the foot of their western slope runs the Waiho, or the river Thames. Here the chain of hills assumes the name of the Aroha (Love) mountains, and borders the valley of the Thames to the eastward, shutting it from the sea. Besides the Waiho, another river, the Piako, flows in this valley, and has its embouchure close to that of the former.
Waihao or Coromandel Harbour is twenty-five miles from Cape Colville and thirty-five from the mouth of the Thames. It is surrounded by hills, which on the eastward rise in a series of longitudinal ridges to the height of about 1500 feet. To the eastward and northward a stripe of alluvial land runs at the base of the hills; but otherwise the shores, which consist of a sandstone conglomerate and trap, are so hilly that they render all communication difficult between the natives who live in the different small bays around the shores. The shore is covered with verdure, and pohutukaua-trees grow all around. The soil on the lower hills is fertile, and yields abundant supplies to the natives.
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COROMANDEL HARBOUR.
Coromandel Harbour has been resorted to by vessels for the trade in kauri-timber, which is abundant on the hills from Cape Colville to Kati Kati, in the Bay of Plenty, about 37 deg. 30' S. lat. Kati Kati is the southernmost boundary of this tree on the east coast of New Zealand. The spars were cut by the natives under the direction of the Europeans, and shipped either at Mercury Bay or at Coromandel Harbour.
A ship-building establishment might be carried on here with advantage, as other excellent timber, besides kauri spars, can be obtained, especially pohutukaua, perhaps the most durable crooked timber that exists. It must, however, be borne in mind, that, from the rugged nature of the country and from the scantiness of labour, the expenses of bringing down the timber would be very great.
Coromandel Harbour is better adapted for small than for large vessels, as, on account of the shallowness of the water, the latter cannot enter far enough to be effectually protected from the outer swell, although there is good holding-ground. Provisions of all descriptions, poultry, pigs, and vegetables, can be obtained from the natives at a cheap rate.
The natives who live in Coromandel Harbour are subdivisions of the Nga-te-paoa, and are called the Nga-te-maru, the Nga-te-tamatera, and the Nga-te-wanaunga. The whole tribe of the Nga-te-paoa amounts to 5000, who do not all live in Coromandel Harbour, portions of them being established
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RIVER THAMES.
at the entrance into the river Thames, at different parts of the Gulf of Hauraki, and at Mercury Bay. They have greatly diminished in number in consequence of their late wars, especially those which they waged with the Nga-pui in the Bay of Islands. They formerly stood in hostile relation with the Nga-te-hauwa, who live at Matamata, in the valley of the Thames, but a short time ago they made a solemn peace with them.
From Coromandel Harbour to the entrance of the river Thames the coast is rocky, and there is no communication between Coromandel Harbour and the valley of the Thames by land. The hills are mostly basaltic or amygdaloid, and many fine red and white carnelians are found hereabouts.
Not far from the entrance into the Thames is a station of the Church Missionary Society, occupying a most picturesque position on the slope of the eastern mountains, which are crowned by a forest of lofty trees. An arm of the sea, which is joined by a creek, the Wawakaurunga, bathes the foot of the hills, where the buildings are placed; a fertile alluvial flat spreads along its left shore, on which stands a large native fortification, Kaneranga, often containing nearly 2000 inhabitants.
There is no harbour, properly speaking, in the Waiho, or Frith of the Thames, and large vessels cannot approach, as a mudbank stretches out between the Thames and the Piako, which have their embouchure close to each other: there is, however,
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VALLEY OF THE THAMES.
a channel into the Thames with a minimum depth of one fathom and a half at dead low water; higher up the depth of the water is three fathoms to three fathoms and a half. Small vessels have gone up the river nearly fifty miles, and large boats can ascend about ninety miles. A channel also leads into the Piako, but this river is the smaller of the two, and at low water admits boats only.
I have already observed that the land on which the kauri-pine grows is, even when cleared, of no use for any other purposes, both from the rugged nature of the ground and from the quality of the soil. But at some distance from the entrance into the Thames, the eastern coast hills, which, seen from the valley, look like a steep artificial embankment, are flat on the top, and slope gradually down to the sea-coast in the Bay of Plenty: the kauri is scarce; and the forest is a mixed one, in which rata, rimu, totara, and hinau are the most conspicuous. Such land is available, if cleared of the forest; the kauri being confined to a few steep hills and ravines on the eastern coast. It is one of the most remarkable phenomena in botany, that an immense tree such as the kauri should be satisfied with places where one would scarcely have supposed it could have taken root.
The valley of the Thames is about one hundred miles long, extending to the neighbourhood of the inland lake of Roturua, and, with the exception of the banks of the rivers, where the kahikatea pine
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AUCKLAND.
grows to great perfection, the whole valley is occupied by fern, flax, and manuka. This vegetation is interrupted by large raupo (typha) swamps, which increase towards the mouths of the rivers, where the country is low and subject to inundations. Flights of the common brown duck, 1 and of the blue-breasted red-billed water-hen, 2 people these swamps. To the westward the valley of the Thames is bordered by hills; but these are only defined and separated lower down towards the frith. Higher up, the valley of the Thames may be said to be united with that of the Waikato and Waipa, with the exception of some distinct hilly groups. From the hilly ridge several narrow valleys open towards the frith, and here are the native settlements of Wakatiwai and Waihopukopu. Opposite the island of Waiheke the land becomes comparatively flat and low; the coast consists of soft sandstone, in cliff's of horizontal stratification; and this is the character of the country towards Waitemata, where the government town of Auckland is situated. In passing from the outlet of the Thames to the latter place the aspect of the shores is highly picturesque. A luxuriant vegetation covers them to the water's edge, or alternates with the clearings made by the natives. As we approach Auckland several regular volcanic cones rise over the table-land which stretches across the island to the harbour of Manukao. We pass a number of islands, of which that of Waiheke is
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WAITEMATA HARBOUR.
overtopped with stately kauri-pines: from every crevice of the rocks on these islands, even where washed by the salt water, the glossy green of various shrubs meets our eyes. These islands in the Gulf of Hauraki, luxuriantly wooded as they are, and divided from each other by deep straits, afford a succession of ever-changing scenery, and give the region a variety which is unrivalled by any other harbour in New Zealand, in most of which steep and uniform surrounding hills shut in the view, and confine it to a narrow space.
The harbour of Waitemata is the most important in the Gulf of Hauraki. It lies at the westernmost extremity of the gulf, and stretches its ramifications towards the harbours of Manukao and Kaipara. The entrance into the harbour is distant from Coromandel Harbour forty miles, from the embouchure of the Thames forty-five miles, from Point Rodney forty miles, and from Cape Colville forty-five miles.
The latitude of the flag-staff in the military barracks at Auckland is 36 deg. 51' 27", its longitude 174 deg. 45' 20" E.
The northern head of the harbour forms a peninsula at high-water. Two conical hills rise here, of which that forming the north head, Takapuna, is 216 feet high, of an irregular form, and consists of a hard basaltic rock; the other, at a little distance from it, Takarunga, has on its summit a crater, partially broken in. It is 279 feet high, and consists
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WAITEMATA HARBOUR.
of black and reddish vesicular lava. There is now a flag-staff erected on it. The navigable entrance into the harbour is only three-quarters of a mile broad, as it is narrowed by a reef, the outermost point of which is marked by a beacon, and is distant three-quarters of a mile from a curious bastion-shaped sandstone rock, which may be regarded as the southern head. Within the heads the channel widens to an average breadth of one mile; it has its greatest depth on the northern shore, and is shallow on the southern, on which the town of Auckland has been laid out, at the distance of two miles and a half from the south head.
The depth of the harbour is from six to nine fathoms in the mid channel, and three and three and a half at the sides. The inlet continues about ten miles to the westward, sending an arm to the northward towards the river Kaipara, and another to the southward towards the harbour of Manukao. The northern arm has a deep but very narrow channel near the northern shore; but shoals and rocks obstruct the passage leading towards Manukao, except for large boats, which can go up for several miles in the river-like inlet, and between its upper part and the harbour of Manukao there is a portage of one mile and a half.
The southern shore, or that on which Auckland stands, consists of cliffs of a soft pepper-coloured sandstone, or sandstone conglomerate, with occasional seams of lignite. The country itself is
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AUCKLAND.
slightly undulating, and forms small bays, which open towards the harbour, and are partially wooded at the bottom. The rest is covered with high fern and manuka. In the immediate neighbourhood of Auckland there is no wood, but opposite to it a small stripe of kauri and other forest-trees near the sea-shore has escaped the general conflagration by which the greater part of the former woods has evidently been destroyed. From this spot the town is provided with timber and firewood. All this land is bad, as is also that at the head of the harbour; but the soil is much better in the immediate neighbourhood of Auckland, and thence towards Manukao, and to the eastward, where it is fit for all kind of horticultural and agricultural purposes.
One feature which contributes to the beauty of the scenery around Auckland is the pohutukaua-trees which line the coast, and which, about Christmas, are decked with purple flowers; but, unfortunately, one after another these beautiful trees are cut down, and thus the naked sandstone cliff's are laid bare, although these trees in no way interfere with architectural or commercial improvements.
Auckland is well supplied with fresh water, not only by the small water-runs in the valleys, but also by springs, from which it is readily obtained by digging a few feet below the surface.
Several volcanic cones rise in the immediate neighbourhood of the town, at the base of which hard scoriae for buildings and roads can be obtained, and
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TAMAKI INLET.
which are easily worked; the sandstone, though soft, hardens by exposure to the air, and is a good building material.
A mile to the eastward of Auckland there is a small bay called Oraki; it has a narrow entrance, and forms almost a natural dock, and could easily be converted into one by means of sluices. To this place the few natives who form the scanty remnant of the once large tribe of the Nga-te-whatua, the proprietors of Waitemata, have lately returned from Manukao; they cultivate the land, and by supplying firewood and provisions, and by working for wages, have made themselves very useful to the town.
Still farther to the eastward another inlet, commonly called the Tamaki, leads towards Manukao; and here is the shortest portage into the latter harbour, it being only a quarter of a mile across. At the entrance into this channel is a bar, with six feet depth at low water, but inside the channel deepens; vessels of 200 tons have gone up for some distance, and large barges can go to the portage. The land on both sides of the Tamaki is excellent; that on the right shore is claimed by the Church Missionary catechist Fairburn, whose possessions extend from this point as far as to the Wairoa river, being an extent of about ninety square miles. A great deal of lignite is found on the Tamaki, but no wood, with the exception of jungle.
The government town of Auckland, considering
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AUCKLAND.
the short time it has existed, has made considerable progress. Its population, which amounts to more than 2000, has been drawn together from all parts of the island. A bank has been formed, fine barracks have been built of scoriae; and were it not for a general spirit of over-speculation in land, without any attempt to explore the home resources of the island, there would be every ground for hoping that the place would gradually and steadily rise into importance. The thing that chiefly recommends the situation of this place for the central town of the northern island is its easy communication with the coast, both to the north and to the southward. An inland communication through Kaipara with the Bay of Islands can be effected in five days, even with the present insufficient means of communication. With the western coast, and with the interior, over Manukao and the river Waikato, nothing interrupts the water-communication but two small portages; and even with Cook's Straits relations can be easily established, either by the river Thames, or the Waikato and Waipa, and the river Wanganui.
The coast-trade particularly is of the greatest importance, as the nature of the country will cause its colonization at many different points at once: and already a great number of small coasting vessels communicate with Auckland.
We must not forget that the Thames and the Piako form an extensive agricultural valley, and that, as their natural harbour, Waitemata is preferable to Coromandel Harbour,
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ISLANDS IN THE
In short, it appears to me that there can be no question but that the place has been very judiciously chosen for the site of a town, as commanding a great extent of cultivable land in its neighbourhood, great facility of communication with the coast and the interior of the northern island, and as being a central point for the most powerful native tribes, the Nga-pui to the northward, the Waikato to the southward, and the Nga-te-hauwa to the eastward, separating them in a military point of view, but uniting them for the purposes of civilization and commerce.
The Gulf of Hauraki contains a number of islands, of which Aotea, or the Great Barrier, at the entrance into the gulf, and Waiheke opposite to the entrance into Waitemata harbour, are the most important. The former is nearly eighty miles in circumference, contains much kauri-forest, and possesses an excellent harbour at its north-western extremity; it is called the Great Barrier Harbour, and has only lately been discovered.
From the Great Barrier I obtained specimens of a copper-ore in a matrix of a decomposed micaceous slate. Some of the specimens contained nearly twenty-five per cent, of copper, the rest was sulphur, iron, and silica. I could not ascertain the extent and position of the vein in which it occurs; but, from the nature of the surrounding rock, I do not think it improbable that a mine of some importance will be found.
Waiheke is about thirty miles in circumference.
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GULF OF HAURAKI.
It has a harbour for small vessels, and there is an anchorage for larger ones in the channel which separates the island from the main. It consists mostly of a yellow argillaceous rock and basalt; it is wooded and hilly, and contains kauri, but has also many sheltered and cultivable valleys.
Both islands are claimed by Europeans, the latter by nearly half a dozen different parties. Barrier Island is the property of a merchant in Sydney, and some Europeans live there. In Waiheke there are some families of the Nga-te-whatua and the Nga-te-paoa tribes, and also a European family.
Rangitoto is another very remarkable island; -- between it and the mainland is the best channel into Waitemata. It is a cone, rising slowly from the sea, and has on its summit three cones, the middle one being the highest, a conformation very common to craters. Rangitoto is an immense heap of scoriae, which in large hard masses surround it at its base and the greater part of its height; and it is only on the top that a few bushes have taken root. In the middle cone is a very perfect crater, about 150 feet deep. The highest point of the island rises to 920 feet above the level of the sea, and commands a most extensive panorama of the surrounding country.
The meteorological table at p. 285, which was kept at Auckland by David Rough, the harbourmaster, and to which has been annexed a table of the average heights of the thermometer, taken by Dr. Johnson with Adie's register thermome-
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METEOROLOGICAL REGISTERS
ter, exhibits the state of the weather for one year.
In Auckland easterly gales generally occur at the full and change of the moon, and continue for two and sometimes three days. In the winter months they sweep with great violence over the exposed situation of Auckland. From the east the wind veers to the westward, and soon moderates. The most settled weather is with southerly winds.
Rains are very frequent, especially in the winter season. I have not the necessary data for comparing the quantity of rain with that in Cook's Straits, but from the scanty observations at my command I am induced to believe that rains are more frequent here than on other parts of the coast, which may perhaps result from the little distance between the western and eastern coasts. Frosts are rare in Auckland; in fact, the thermometer never stood lower than 36 deg. Fahrenheit. The surface of the land being comparatively level, no impediment is given to the easterly and westerly breezes; the summer heat is therefore very moderate, and the thermometer only once rose as high as 84 deg.. Many of the valleys in the neighbourhood of the town, which are sheltered from the gales, enjoy a mild and agreeable climate.
Earthquakes, which are sometimes felt in other parts of the island, have not been experienced in the Hauraki Gulf by the European settlers, nor could I learn from the natives whom I questioned on the subject that there existed any tradition of their having occurred in this region.
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CHAP. XX. ] AT AUCKLAND. 285
Meteorological Table, from 16th September, 1840, to 16th September, 1841.
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METEOROLOGICAL REGISTERS
The Mean Temperature of the different Months is represented in the following Table: --
Months. Corresponding to our Temperature.
January... July.... 69.3 deg.
February.... August... 67.6 deg.
March.... September.. 65.1 deg.
April.....October... 59.0 deg.
May.....November.. 56.1 deg.
June.....December.. 52.1 deg.
July.....January... 49. deg.
August.... February... 54.3 deg.
September... March... 54.8 deg.
October.... April.... 58.6 deg.
November... May.... 58.8 deg.
December... June.... 64.6 deg.
Mean temperature of the summer months, 67.1 deg.
Of the winter months..... 52.0 deg.
Mean annual temperature.... 59.0 deg.
Difference between the mean temperature of summer and winter, only... 15.0 deg.
The place which in our northern hemisphere corresponds in its mean annual temperature to that of Auckland (situated in lat. 36 deg. 51' 27" S., and long. 174 deg. 45' 20" E. ) is Montpellier, in 43 deg. 36' N. lat., and 3 deg. 52' E. long. But in Montpellier the difference between the hottest and the coldest month is 68 deg., whereas in Auckland the difference is only 19.8 deg.. The heat of the warmest month in Auckland corresponds to that of the warmest month at Vienna, which is situated in 48 deg. 12' N. lat., and 16 deg. 22' E. long.; but its coldest month is somewhat below the temperature of the coldest month of Lisbon, in 38 deg. 43' N. lat., and 13 deg. 49' W.
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AT AUCKLAND.
long. Such is the equalizing influence exercised on the climate by the insular position of the country and the proximity of Auckland to the coasts.
The usual rise and fall of the tides in Auckland is ten feet; but they are influenced by the easterly winds, which sometimes raise them to twelve or even thirteen feet: the time of high water at full and change is about 6h. 45m.
The variation of the compass is 14 deg., the dip of the needle 61 deg. 7'.
There are other harbours between the Gulf of Hauraki and the Bay of Islands, in all of which Europeans are settled, but very few natives. It would be tedious to do more than briefly mention them.
1. The harbour of Mahurangi is situated at a distance of twenty miles from Waitamata. It is of easy access, the depth of water is sufficient for every description of vessels, and there is secure anchorage. It has a southern and a northern passage, of which the former is the best, and has from seven to fifteen fathoms water. A division of the surveying department has been sent there, to lay out a town; but the place, though possessed of some timber, has no particular advantage for a township.
2. Matakana, a small harbour, a little to the northward of Mahurangi. It has two fathoms water at the entrance, with some kauri-timber on its shores: several Europeans live there.
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HARBOURS NEAR HAURAKI.
3. Wangari, an extensive and sheltered harbour. In the neighbourhood there is much kauri-forest.
4. Tutukaka.
5. Wangamuma,
6. Wangaruru. In this harbour the ship Buffalo once took in a large cargo of spars.
